1THEN JONAH prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly,
2And said, I cried out of my distress to the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of Sheol cried I, and You heard my voice. [Ps. 120:1; 130:1; 142:1; Lam. 3:55-58.]
3For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your waves and Your billows passed over me. [Ps. 42:7.]
4Then I said, I have been cast out of Your presence and Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple. [Ps. 31:22.]
5The waters compassed me about, even to [the extinction of] life; the abyss surrounded me, the seaweed was wrapped about my head. [Ps. 69:1; Lam. 3:54.]
6I went down to the bottoms and the very roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet You have brought up my life from the pit and corruption, O Lord my God.
7When my soul fainted upon me [crushing me], I earnestly and seriously remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.
8Those who pay regard to false, useless, and worthless idols forsake their own [Source of] mercy and loving-kindness.
9But as for me, I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation and deliverance belong to the Lord!
10And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.